Since I had two new songs today, I figured the title of today's post should be a lyric from one of them. The other runner-up was "I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes," just for irony's sake because "summer clothes" here are no different from winter clothes, so far.
What a day! Today was pretty standard, started out slow and grumpy, but the day picked up speed and I was loving it. I want to keep busking forever! But don't quote me on that. I think of Saturday as my big busking day, and I don't even consider putting in long days on non-Saturdays, but I played for five hours today. Saturday was rained out, but today was relatively nice out, so there we go.
I started in front of the cathedral, since Jason was at the arches. I made sure to not be directly across from the caricature artist, who had made that request last time. But not too long after I had started, a man came out of the cathedral and asked me to move. Cars had been parked in front of it, something I hadn't seen before, so I assumed it was an important funeral or something and packed up. I realized that I couldn't hear pipers coming from the Tron Kirk end, so I headed there and sure enough the coast was clear. Set up at the police box. I stayed there for a bit, but it wasn't as good as I remembered. Now that I've picked my favorite spot, I want it and only it!
I was in luck, because I didn't have to wait super long before my spot opened up. And once there, I stayed and kept playing. I was going to quit at 3:00, after three hours out, to leave time to blog before band practice, but the crowd was great so I stayed till the last possible minute! Phew! This was exhausting, but I feel like I play so much better in that spot. It's probably psychological: because I make more tips there it makes sense that the act sounds better, so I therefore rise to that occasion. But it really could be as simple as being elevated, as a way to spark my attention and focus.
I spent Saturday arranging songs. First was a-ha's "Take On Me," followed by Adele's "Someone Like You." The latter was a waste of time. Getting personal for a sec: it made me really sad while arranging it because yesterday would have been my first anniversary with my nearly perfect ex who I left behind when I came here, and naturally Adele's lyrics apply to anyone's forlorn romantic situation. But, more importantly, it just doesn't sound that great on accordion. My arrangement is boring, and the song's a little too old to achieve the Top 40 amusement reaction. The third song of the day was the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black," a song I've been meaning to arrange for quite some time. I'm not sure what I was waiting for, since it was so easy to arrange and memorize! This song was really made for accordion; you can do it gypsy style if you want. I was able to play both "Take On Me" and "Paint it Black" today (had to glance at the music the first couple times), and it felt great to have some new repertoire! I hope the vendors who hear my same songs all the time noticed. I also attempted to save our sanity by playing older songs that I've since retired, even going as far back as "Beer Barrel Polka" and "Lady of Spain." It's been a while for both of those!
More new songs coming, I'm thinking about expediting "Light My Fire" and "The Rainbow Connection." And I guess Todd and Tom, respectively, want me to learn "Mission: Impossible" and "Eye of the Tiger" to play during their acts? Oops, spoilers!
Sunday, 8 July 2012
1. A family stopped with a little girl in a stroller. I began to play "The Wheels on the Bus," and the mother sang along. As they walked away, the parents told me that that is their daughter's favorite song! Lucky guess.
2. A girl about my age said that she is also named Sophie. We discussed the idea of getting t-shirts made with my logo for all the Sophies in the world to wear!
3. At the police box, a group of foreign female pre-teens lingered, listening and taking pictures. They were so sweet, that's all there is to report. From Greece!
4. I played "Don't Stop Me Now" at the police box, and I heard a cheer erupt after. On my right was a group of young men sitting at the patio of a pub. Awesome, nice to have an enthusiastic audience! They reacted similarly for "Take On Me" and the Tetris song, so I fed them all my pop songs. Fun.
5. I've been meaning to mention that it's a big summer for Batman t-shirts! I see a ton every day now! I've been thinking generally about catering towards people's shirts, and I realized that I can now satisfy those wearing Rolling Stones shirts. Sure enough, it happened backwards. Right when I started playing Paint it Black, a girl with a Stones shirt walked by. Voilá!
6. Am I Russian? Nope.
7. I've been playing "Losing My Religion" again, in hopes that people will recognize it, and one woman did today. But she couldn't place it, she walked by, slowly, with a puzzled look, so I paused to yell the title. Still counts!
8. People say things while I'm playing. I usually can't hear. If I suspect it's something more than "thank you," "you're welcome," or "sounds good," I'll stop and say, "What?" But usually they ignore that and it's just really awkward. Darn.
9. On the theme of photos: I'm noticing a difference in the quality of the photos I give based on the tip I have received or the photographer. When people take photos and don't seem to be going to tip, I look away and/or give a sour expression so their photo isn't great. I hate to racially profile, but the Japanese tourists are the biggest offenders of the "tip for photos" guideline. So today, when a Japanese man tipped long before reaching for his camera, I gave him a great pose! That's when I noticed this phenomenon.
10. I'm baffled by the fact that I still get these big adrenaline rushes when I play "Here Comes the Bride." It's so weird! Makes no sense. Why would playing a song that I know for an unsuspecting bunch of passersby trigger my nervous system to initiate its "fight or flight" reflex? So weird. Happened today both with a hen party and playing "Happy Birthday" to a woman wearing a crown. Both parties acknowledged it but didn't tip. And then I went on to play the next few songs at double speed. Weird.
11. I've also mentioned the difficulty I have uttering the words "thank you" while playing. You'd think that if I was able to pull off playing tambourine and kazoo while playing accordion that I would also be capable of speech, but you'd be wrong. It still comes out funny, and I have to say these words in rhythm with the song. That makes it strange if it's a really slow song. "Thaaaaaank..........youuuuuu."
12. People always ask about my studies in the present tense. "What DO you study." But, recently I cut off all my hair and I look older. Today everyone who asked did it in the past tense! Maybe it's the haircut?
13. I've been thinking recently that it's been a while since anyone has recognized Twin Peaks. But today two parties did! The first said that they're in the middle of season two now. I should have reminded them to stick with it, since season two lags. Awesome, hope people keep recognizing it again now.
14. A man came right up and asked if I could play some song. I said no. Asked another, no. Asked about any Irish songs I can play. I gave him the list and he chose Danny Boy. I began playing it, and he sang! He was quite liberal with a tempo, and it was hard to follow, but it was quite entertaining. He changed the words at one point to be about the rain in Edinburgh. Right-o! Meanwhile, his sons, who all wore matching striped button-up shirts, wreaked havoc, yelling, knocking stuff over. And as fast as they had entered the scene, they were gone.
15. Someone recognized "La Noyée" and said she liked Yann Tiersen. Been awhile on that one too!
15.5. A little boy grabbed Flaca. Yes! But his mother scolded him. No! Hopefully more kids will have the idea to help themselves.
15. 75. Two little girls stopped but took their time deciding if they wanted to approach me when I picked up Flaca. They were full of questions, though, and we talked about her cymbals and tap shoes. I told them that I'd like to get a metal sheet so her shoes are very loud. "Like this?" asked one, and she jumped up, returning to Earth with a loud stomp. Exactly like that. I also showed them the shakers, but they didn't want to try them either. I gave them a demo though with them in my shoes, and they suggested "Twinkle Twinkle" as a favorite song.
16. Best ever: a young woman came up and said, "I think I've seen your Youtube videos." Awesome! She's from Seattle.
17. I interacted with two older Japanese tourists who asked permission to take a photo of me and the wife. The woman said something to me after in Japanese, and repeated it a few times to my puzzled expression. Sorry, if it's not "I don't speak Japanese" or "$%@#^%#" (but that's a story for another day), I won't understand it. But then, to help me understand, she flexed her bicep and pointed to it. Hm, is she saying I'm strong? Brave? Whatever it was, I'll take it as a compliment! Maybe she was literally commenting on my biceps, which are lookin' good after playing every day for the past few weeks.
18. A non-English speaker recognized the Wallace and Gromit theme but needed an ID. In her very limited English we had the necessary conversation. I love that she didn't hold back asking me about it!
19. I experienced a strange thing around hour 4.5: a finger cramp! That's what I'm calling it; my left middle finger started strangely aching and I had to stop and stretch it out. Time to go home.
20. I needed a bathroom break, so I asked Todd to watch my stuff. When I came out, Todd was sitting on the post "playing" my accordion while Tom stood behind him with the maracas. They looked fabulous! The best part was the people who stopped to listen, and take photos. I lingered on the sidewalk for a bit, occasionally commenting to people, "aren't they great?" Sophie's Smokin' Squeezebox could be a name for a band with two dudes in it, I guess.
21. I should have mentioned this sooner, but there was an artist I hadn't seen before selling her work at the arches as well. She was in a wheelchair and had several paintings displayed. Her back was to me, so I couldn't see what she was working on, but due to the loud exclamation of a child I learned that she was painting with her feet. Wow!
22. Had the regular check-ins with Elaine and Lewis. Love love love these characters.
23. As I was packing up, a man indicated that he wanted to set up after me. It turns out he was one of three, a little traveling band from Romania. I saw the violin and accordion and got excited, but it ended up being terrible. The English-speaker was the accordion player, and he was really fabulous at it! Huge instrument, of course. It was plugged into an amp, though, which totally ruined the sound. Additionally, the violin was plugged into an amp, as was the CD player which belted a poor-quality recording along to which they played. Noooo! The recording had accordion and violin, and it was clear that it was necessary to give the illusion that the violinist can play. The third guy tapped a tambourine which had been punctured and patched several times. Poor guys, this seemed like an attempt to make money, which isn't surprising given Romania's economy. I really think the accordion player on his own would have made more money than this loud circus. I hung around long enough to hear the first track, and suggested that they turn off the CD and just play (the hair wrap lady enthusiastically nodded), but they continued at full power. Todd later reported that they played all through Steve's show, and eventually the police shut them down. I didn't get the impression that they had an amp permit, and I'm shocked that the vendors let them last as long as they apparently did. I love the accordion/violin combo, though, so too bad.
The end! I definitely need an accordion break. I've played every day for at least ten days, through busking, arranging, or band practice, and my arms and back are sore! I think that's why I was playing poorly today, making lots of stupid mistakes. Tomorrow is actually forecasted to be a nice day, nooo! Maybe I'll play hookie anyway. Till next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment